Spain--The South

We headed south to Valencia City which is on the Italian coast side in the middle of the country. They are famous for Palella which is a traditional rice dish with chicken or seafood. Megan and I took a bus out to the small village outside that is supposedly the origin of the dish for dinner. After a long beach trek and some circumventing a large gate we found ourselves trapped behind, we ate dinner at a nice little restaurant and caught the bus back to our hostel.

After Valencia, we wanted to find some warmth to the south and we visited a off-the-beaten -path summer town in the very southeast corner of Spain called Cabo de Gata (Cape of the cat). It much drier with cactus but right on the coast again. We spent one day and one night there hiking around the nearby cliffs, hills and beaches on foot and mountain bikes.

Then we moved on to Granada for a few days in the south center of the country with a strong Muslim history and surrounded by mountains. It is famous for a large palace called Alhambra built by the Muslims, taken over by the Christians and then left to disrepair from political struggle until it was re-romanticized by a famous author and restored. The walls, ceiling and floors were intricately designed with stone, plaster and wood in interesting mosaic patterns. Gardens and artwork on every surface with water flowing throughout. Water was a central theme in fountains and even on stairs which contrasted with the dry climate of the surrounding town. In the city and near our hostel, some of the streets were very narrow and filled with Moroccan type goods that were fun to look around in.

Spain--The North

Wow, it's been a long 3 weeks. I'm on Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands where I used to work before I started grad school. I cannot post pictures yet so check back and I'll add them later. I'll try this newspaper style so I can give an overview first and get into the details and funny stories later.

I spent 2 weeks in Spain visiting Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia City, Cabo de Gata and Granada before flying out to the Philippines. In the Philippines I spent 1 week travelling to a remote area in the north before flying out to Kwaj. I will have two week here to relax, do some school work and visit with friends until I return to Seattle on January 2nd.

When I left the Netherlands I ran into some flight trouble as my flight was changed without me knowing and I missed it. It set me back $200 for a new ticket to Madrid so I could start my travels and meet up with Megan and Ian. I arrived at 1am and we went out for some churros and hot chocolate. Spanish hot chocolate is thick and was best described as "a melted candy bar" and is 'eaten' by dipping sweet breads. Amazing. I will never make runny hot chocolate again. We spent a few days there seeing museums and walking everywhere. The whole time in Spain we hardly ever took the underground Metro because some the the best things to do and see were in the little side streets on our way to the other destinations.

After 2 days we left for Barcelona on an overnight bus and stayed for 4 days. Barcelona is famous for a couple things like parks and buildings designed by Gaudi, The Rambla and the strange rock formations to the north in Montserrat among many others. We did our usual tour in every new city on the first day from the lonely planet book that Megan bought.

One little fun thing we found was this great little old convince store that sold bulk wine out of a 55 gallon barrel. I filled up my 1 liter water bottle for about $2 but could have paid much less for the cheap stuff.

Spain is famous for tapas which are small appetizer type dishes for eating in the evening instead of dinner since lunch is typically the big meal. Megan and I found ourselves in a little tapas bar filled with locals watching a soccer game and I ordered what looked like some potatoes dish. The bartender looked surprised that a foreigner would eat it so he piled it on. After it was heated and served it was actually intestines with a little meat. To the pleasure of the bartender, I managed to eat most because it tasted rather good despite the texture. He ignored our orders for wine so he could make us sample all of the barrel wines they had on tap. We had a great time and left as the bar was closing down after paying only a few euros.

We went to a couple to Gaudi's works like the Sagrada Familia an incredibly detailed church with amazing sculpture throughout and based on forms of nature. It is still in progress and still will not be finished in 20 years or something. We went to a famous park designed by Gaudi that overlooks that city and is filled with typical Gaudi mosaics of glass, tile and stone.

On La Rumbla there are funny street performers, flower and pet vendors. The performers dress up in elaborate costumes and do things when you give them money. I got a picture with a costumed fat lady that will give you kiss and pose for a picture for you they also had space, movie and scary characters that are frozen until you give them money so they come alive and do some dance depending on how much you gave them before freezing again.

Montserrat was a great day trip to get out of the city and go hiking. A monastery was started there way up in the mountains that is accessible by a long tram. Once there we can hiked 6-8km round trip up rugged trails to the very top for 360 degree views of the sea, the Pyrenees mountains and surrounding countryside. It was a little hazy but still amazing, warm and very quiet.

Stockholm, Sweden

So we got invited to stay at a friends house in Stockholm, Sweden that we are studying with. It worked out that we had no class and airfare was only 39 Euros round-trip if we flew out of Germany. Sweden is pretty expensive but with housing taken care of I only spent about 150 Euros for the 5 days including travel.

The group of 7 international students took over her parents house. We cooked most of our meals there together and split up between two bedrooms. It was like a middle school sleep over complete with endless yelling, laughing, throwing things at each other and jokes about bodily functions.


We traveled all around Stockholm in the great trolley and subway systems that should make Seattle feel ashamed for its transportation woes. The food was great, the weather was great, everything was great. It is in the top three cities I have visited in Europe. We ate at a little restaurant in the basement of a cafe in the middle of the old city that was only lit by candlelight.

We visited the Vasa, a large pirate like ships that was raised after being sunk for 333 years. In the same area was a great island park that among other things has a zoo and old reconstruction of historical life. They have glass making shop, a bakery, a general store and living quarters from the 1600's where they actually bake bread, and blow glass, etc...

Nearby there was a little cafe to grows a large part of the food it serves on the land surrounding it. The food it doesn't grow is bought organic and as locally as possible. It tasted amazing and even though it was a cold day we ate in greenhouses that had nice atmosphere by being comfortably warm, had birds flying around and smelled like the food that was being cooked. I had the buffet that had sugar pumkin and cabbage, stew, fresh chewy bread, and homeade carrot soup. The really cool part is that it has become so successful that it supports itself now after being started by a nonprofit using government grants.

Two weeks ago I went to visit my Aunt and Uncle in a city about 60km from where I'm studying here in Groningen. It is in Freisland which a part of the Netherlands that would all but like to break away and become there own country. (Not really) There have their own langauge, sports and culture. They have interesting things like canal pole-vaulting and a speed skating race that happens only when it freezes hard enough to freeze the canals. It is 200km long and has only been held 15 times since the first race 100 years ago. Notice the photo montage in of all the finishers in the background.

Prague

I also took a trip to Prague during a one week academic break they give us to ease the pressure of 10 weeks of school. Unnecessary, but the point of coming here is not to stay inside and write papers.

It is an amazing city recommended by everyone Ive met who have visited there. Megan and I got a great hostel about 10 minutes outside of the city center. We stayed for 4 nights and walked about 6-8 hours per day. Some of the highlights were the communist museum, house of mirrors, another conservatory, and the food and beer.







You could get a one liter glass of dark, rich beer for about $3 US. I had an amazing roast duck dinner with traditional purple sauerkraut and potato dumplings. It was the best duck I have ever eaten and the whole meal with beer was only about $10 US.









We took one day in the Czech Republic a small town named Karlovy Vary about 60 km from Prague. It is famous for healthful hot springs but when we showed up with bathing suits we saw everybody with funny little cups to drink the water. It tastes terrible--minerally, salty and warm. It reminded me of drinking blood when my lips would get cut on my braces in high school wrestling... (Nice visual, huh?) There were no places open to soak in the spring water so we found a place to get naked and run back and forth from a sauna to an ice bath that felt really nice. We also went for a hike in the surrounding hills. All the leaves were changing and it felt like some place in a fairy tale.

Hamburg, Germany

A group of 8 of us international students rented 2 cars and drove 3 hours to Hamburg, Germany. After some trouble finding a place to stay we went out. It is a great town with lots of character. We stayed in a gritty part of town called the St. Pauli District. The neighborhood was full of sex shops, great food, an amazing park, a red light district and great 2nd hand stores.

Here is a picture of this park. We stumbled upon it unexpectedly. It was sunny and warm so there were people everywhere. After a nap in the grass we found a great conservatory with 5 different atriums with different climates and plants.


Here is a funny picture of a smart car for Erin. Not quite as intimidating as the cops in the states.

The rest the the main city was great as well, but for some reason I didn't get any pictures of the lakes or embassys or canals...

Bringing it all up to date...

I'm going to try to more pictures and less words so this isn't so long. Let see how that goes...

So I got here at the end of August. I'm staying in a dorm style building with 52 other international students. Most of them are early 20's or so and they like to go out EVERY night. That is OK because everyone (even the uptight librarian) told us to do more fun stuff then school.

[Edited: I had to change the picture because Sadie says my previous toasting picture made it look like all I do is party here. I tried to find a picture of me studying hard in the library but damn if I keep forgetting to bring my camera when I study... :-) ]

School in going to be fun. You get what you put into it kind of thing but school is school and that not very interesting for a blog. So here is all the other stuff that is going on...

Both my academic program and have had socials parties and dinners for our introduction week so we went out 7 out of the first 10 days here. The picture to the left is our international night where we had to dress up in our national colors.

They only drink lite beer here which is pretty annoying. They say there are some small breweries here that make dark beer but I haven't found them yet.

The first thing 8 out 10 people ask after I introduce myself is "who do you think is going to be the next president".


Aside from the social stuff Megan and I went on a trip to a great little island in the North called Schiermonnikoog. It is a Dutch vacation spot that is very quaint and quiet. It was amazing. Here is Megan drinking coffee at a little shop after a long Sunday bike ride and ice cream (how sappy is that?!?!) :-) Notice the perfect little houses in the background, bike, brick roads, etc... It was really great. The first night we went out to dinner at a restaurant on the ocean and I was literally served a 1.5 gallon pot of fresh mussels with bread and veggies and a nice salad bar for about $13. Then some Dutch people our age that live in the same city as us gave us their phone numbers and invited us out for drinks when we got back from our trip. We were just about to leave and Another Dutch family that live in the States but were out on vacation invited us to their table and bought desert. We ended up staying there for over 3 hours. Anyway, other stuff now.

They have free classes here for students at the school gym. I signed up for fencing lessons once a week. It has been fun so far. I'll have someone take a picture for me. I also started working out with the ultimate fighting club for exercise. It is a REALLY hard workout with lots of punching, kicking and practicing choke holds. I'm still sore 5 days since my last workout... Twice a week will be enough for me.

Megan and I volunteered to cook an "American Thanksgiving dinner" for some of the international students tomorrow (Sunday) but didn't know how many people were coming and that if it was only one or two they might cancel. They called today and we will be cooking for 48 people.... It should be interesting.

They difinately have some things figured out here better than we do in the States. It is a 20 minute bike commute from this neighborhood to the downtown. Some people here have cars but there are more bikes in the Netherlands than people. More later...

Finally-I started a blog!

I just got this started so I can keep you up to date with my time in the Netherlands.

My contact information:

Cell Phone: 0031624981178
Email: crusby@u.washington.edu
Address: Blakerslaan 4
BL415
9724 EJ Groningen
Skype: megan.horst

If you Skype me I have it set to forward to my cell phone here. It is free for you but I costs me about 40 cent per minute so email is probably best or I can call you back using Skype for free or 2 cents per minute.

I have been here for about two weeks now and I has been amazing. School just started and I like my classes. They are all in English and it looks like it will be a good quarter. Not to many classes and lots of short assignments. I should get done by the 3rd week in November and I'll travel to Spain, the Philippines and back out to Kwaj.

The weather here is much like Seattle and the food is very fatty when you eat out. Luckily they have good cheap vegetables at the local grocery stores and I found a little organic store by my house.

With all this fatty food I have taken it upon myself to get some exercise while I'm here so I signed up for fencing lessons and training with the ultimate fighting club here on campus. I'm still sore after 4 days from the last ultimate fighting practice. Fencing is fun too. Those classes are once a week and just kind of fun--not too much exercise.

Here are some pictures from here. Everyone rides bike so it looks like this everywhere. Bikes have right of way to cars and pedestrians in the street. It is pretty great. Megan and I went to a small vacation island on the coast last weekend. I'll post them as soon as I get them on the computer.